Three Silent Lies and One Spoken Out Loud
by ProudGeek4Ever
Summary: Three lies Marinette told herself and the one lie she told someone. Alternate Chameleon. Saltinette.


Marinette was sitting in the back.

They'd all swapped places and dumped her there alone.

Everyone got to sit with their friends except her.

Alya and Nino got a chance to spend more time together.

Ivan and Mylene got to sit together while blushing like crazy.

Rose and Juleka could swap notes in the back.

It was such a perfect arrangement and there wasn't anything wrong with the back.

Then why did it feel like she's been hit by a bus.

It could have been because Lila was the reason for all the commotion.

It could have been because Lila lied to get to sit next to Adrien.

It could have been the way everyone believed Lila's far fetched story of Jagged Stone and a kitten.

Those three options made her a bit angry, but nothing more.

A traitorous little voice in her head whispered to her that it was the fact that her friends didn't ask her. They just expected her to accept it. They glared at her for voicing her objections to the new arrangements.

Marinette ignored it.

**_In that moment she told herself her first lie. _**

**_'I'm not hurt'._**

**_The purple butterfly that had been on it's way to her turned around._**

-LineBreak-

Lila continued lying non stop.

Jagged Stone wrote a song especially about her. No one had ever heard that song.

She had a sprained her wrist. All her painful outcries were just a bit delayed.

The napkin could have blinded Max. The napkin was going to hit his stomach and he wore glasses anyway.

Everyone catered to her every need.

They carried her bag and brought her food to the table.

It was surprising that they didn't feed her while they were at it

Marinette tried telling Alya and Nino that she was lying.

Nino thought it was uncool of her to have followed Lila.

Alya told her she needed to check her sources.

Her supposedly best friend believed a stranger above her bestie and said her jealousy was getting out of hand.

Did Alya check her sources before posting a video on the ladyblog about Ladybug's best friend Lila?

Then everyone got mad at her for throwing a napkin at poor Lila who just saved Max's life while further injuring herself.

She ran to the restroom.

After being threatened by the liar she sat down in one of the stalls to think and let the tears spill.

**_She had to repeat the second lie a few times before she believed it._**

**_'Lila can't hurt me'._**

**_This time she saw how the butterfly stopped in front of her before once again turning._**

-LineBreak-

When the whole chameleon debacle was out of the way they had a short break before the next lesson.

The problem with lies are that the bigger and more detailed they become the easier they become to disprove.

Lila had some very big lies with some very well known people.

All would be easy to prove wrong, but no one tried.

Then Lila made a mistake.

She claimed that Ladybug had known about her hearing issue and brought an earplug before taking her up the eiffel tower.

The important part was that she said that it was for her right ear.

Earlier that morning it was the left ear that had tinnitus.

Marinette had her, but then Adrien started talking to her.

Apparently he had known all day long that Lila was a liar. She had completely forgotten that he was there when Ladybug, well her, had outed Lila's lie in the park.

He disapproved of her plan to expose Lila.

He said she wasn't hurting anyone.

What would happen when Alya journalist career went down the drain because she didn't fact check? What would happen when Lila couldn't introduce Nathaniel to famous painters or Nino to djs?

The little bit of hope she had left snapped when he asked her if it wasn't enough that they knew.

It really wasn't because Marinette could feel how she was slowly losing her friends to a impulsive liar. How they were turning against her. She was being hurt by Lila and he was willing to let it all go.

Marinette didn't remember what happened after that until she somehow found herself back in her usual seat in the classroom.

**_Then and there she told herself her third and final lie for the day._**

**_'I'm still in love with Adrien'._**

**_At least there wasn't any butterfly this time._**

-LineBreak-

Lila was a liar.

That had already been established.

No one could say that she didn't make good of her threats though.

Marinette came to school next day doubting Lila's ability to create rumours.

She shouldn't have underestimated her, but hindsight is 20/20.

When lunch finally arrived Marinette had already been labelled a bully, a jealous stalker and a few other not so nice things.

The worst thing was that everyone believed her.

Everyone except Adrien, but he didn't do anything at all when their classmates were dragging her name through the mud.

He claimed they were in this together.

It was painfully obvious that they weren't.

She was alone because no one believed her

Marinette threatend Lila in the bathroom yesterday, poor Lila admitted while crying.

Marinette has bullied me since my first day all those months ago, Lila convinces everyone.

Marinette follows Adrien wherever he goes to make him want to date her, the liar adds in between all the yelling.

So when the bell rang to signify lunchtime Marinette made a run for it.

She had refused to cry the entire day.

Crying she could do when she was alone.

That's why she hid under the staircase.

She could hear how her entire class moved to the other side of the courtyard. She could hear their outbursts when they heard new "information" about her that Lila let slip. She couldn't take it anymore.

She let the tears fall.

Nobody would see or hear her anyway.

Except someone did.

"Are you okay Marinette?"

Of course Luka would be the one to find her.

He somehow always was there when she was embarrassing herself, lost or feeling like the world was against her.

It took longer time than she'd like to admit to realise he was waiting for her to answer his question.

**_The answer she gave Luka was her first lie spoken out loud._**

**_"I'm fine."_**

**_Neither of them believed it at all._**

Luka sat himself down next to her on the ground.

"Want to talk about it?" the male Couffaine asked her.

She looked into his eyes and saw something she hadn't seen for way too long.

Concern.

He genuinely wanted to know.

So she spilled everything.

She told him every lie Lila had uttered that she remembered. She told him about the restroom incident. The threat, Adrien, the rumours. Everything.

And he listened.

He didn't interrupt her once.

When she was done she took a deep breath.

It had been difficult and tiring, but she had needed to say it out loud. She needed to get that of her chest.

Luka thought it all over before he reacted.

He smiled.

She didn't know what that meant.

"They're idiots," he began, "because they just lost the most amazing girl in the world".

**Marinette was hurt, Lila could hurt her and she wasn't in love with Adrien anymore.**

_**But she would be fine.**_

_**She had Luka.**_


End file.
